Plane Conversations

This past week I had the privilege of taking a tour of the Hawker Beechcraft factory and corporate headquarters in Wichita Kansas.

The tour started at our home base in Tennessee with a flight to Wichita on a new Hawker 4000. The aircraft is impressive and I will post soon with video and more information on this new generation, state of the art, mid size business jet.

Our company has operated Beechcraft King Airs for over 25 years, and much of my flying time is logged in various Barons and Bonanzas, so I have been a fan of Beechcraft for a long time.

The King Air series aircraft are without argument the most successful turboprop ever built with a production run spanning 5 decades.

The King Air C90GTX / B200GT / 350I series aircraft are still in production for civilian and military applications. All are evolved from the original King Air that first rolled of the line in 1965.   

Hawker Beech’s jet aircraft in production include the Hawker 4000, Hawker 900XP,  Hawker 750, Hawker 400XP and the Premier 1A/II. The Hawker 750 and 900 series aircraft are evolutions of the original Hawker jets manufactured in the UK and are the best selling series of business jets in the world.   

Hawker Beech also manufacturers variations of the military T-6 trainer, which is the primary trainer for both the navy and air force pilot programs.

The Beech Baron G58 twin engine and Bonanza G36 single engine piston aircraft round out the line of aircraft in production.     

Arriving to the factory at Hawker Beech’s airport in Wichita, our first stop was the delivery hangar, where new aircraft were in the final stage of delivery to the new owners.  There is a large American flag on one wall, prominently displayed as reminder that these aircraft going all over the world are made in America.

Wichita is the number one city for growing exports and Hawker Beech plays a big part. The percentage of aircraft exported now exceeds the percentage staying in the US and this will continue to increase as the demand for business aircraft worldwide grows faster than in the US.

One of the things that interests me most is innovation in our business and Hawker Beechcraft has done that with their new Hawker 4000. The Hawker 4000 has a   composite fuselage and uses composites in combination with traditional metal structures in other areas of the airframe. Composites are lighter but stronger than metal structure allowing savings in weight and increases in fuel efficiency and performance, as well as reduced maintenance costs.

Use of composites in aircraft sturctures is here to stay as evidenced by the Boeing 787 having a composite fuselage.

What impressed me most from the whole tour is the sense of pride emanating from the employees, from the senior management to the people on the floor. These people are proud of what they make and should rightly be proud of the 75 plus year legacy of excellence in aircraft manufacturing.

A lot has been said about the competitiveness of the US aircraft manufacturing industry in the global market.

A current issue that Hawker Beech has to deal with is to what degree they move production out of the US to save costs. The unions in Wichita are fighting for the jobs to remain US and the decisions will be difficult. Hawker Beech must remain price competitive and at the same time they cannot afford to lose the skill and aggregated knowledge of the workforce in Wichita. 

There is a positive and determined corporate culture that I admire with the leadership and employees at Hawker Beech. That will keep them in the competitive game of aircraft manufacturing well into the future.

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Today Bill Minkoff, our VP of Marketing / Business Development  is arriving from Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, flying our new Embraer Phenom 100 – N777JQ.  This is a day that we have anticipated for almost two years, from when Bill came on board with us as a partner in JetQuik and brought an order for the new Embraer Phenom 100 with him.  Our company will be managing this new generation business jet for owners in our hometown and chartering it out to the traveling public.

Besides his role as our VP of Marketing and Business Development and partner in our new venture, Bill is also a highly experienced pilot having started his aviation career as a Naval aviator flying the A7E  fighter off the US Midway aircraft carrier.  He moved on to Delta  Air Lines flying as an international Captain and Line Check Airman, finally retiring on the Boeing 767.  Even having made night landings on aircraft carriers, and flying 767’s internationally, I think Bill is enjoying this flight more than anything he has done in a long time.

For our company, as it is for many other charter operators, owner pilots, and corporate flight departments, the arrival of a new aircraft is an exciting event.  I try to be objective about aircraft and focus on numbers – operating costs, performance, cash flow, etc., but when you see the new bird for the first time you set the objectiveness aside and let the emotions and excitement take over.

This aircraft represents a new generation of business jets and a new era for our company.  Like many aircraft charter companies around the world, we have operated the workhorses of the industry for 27 plus years now – King Airs, Lear 35’s and Cessna Citations, to name a few.  All of these aircraft have been safe and reliable and have delivered day in and day out for our owners and charter customers.

The smell of new leather, the sleek design and a simple looking but sophisticated cockpit make this new aircraft exciting.  For a numbers person like me, what is equally exciting is that the new jet will deliver that same safe and reliable transportation as the older workhorses at a much lower operating cost.  

Lower costs for us means lower pricing to the users, which translates into new customers, who have not previously been able to justify using a business jet for travel - if the formulas of supply / demand / price that I learned in college still hold true, that is.  I feel sure that they do. 

I like to use analogies to make a point.  I tell people this new jet is like the Toyota Prius of the new jets.  It isn’t a hybrid (maybe some day) but its fuel efficiency and cost to operate is unmatched for a jet of its size, speed and performance.

N777JQ will be arriving this afternoon from Fort Lauderdale on the last leg of the journey to its new home in Nashville, TN.  

Estimated flight time is 2:37 at a cruising speed of 378  knots (434mph), a cruising altitude of 40,000 feet and an inflight fuel burn of 88 gallons per hour.  Impressive numbers for such a good looking aircraft.

I can hardly wait to see it! 

Our latest addition N777JQ leaving her birthplace in Brazil enroute to her new home in Smyrna, TN.

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